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Sophos, a world leader in corporate virus protection today
reminded companies how increased use of encryption to keep emails
private and confidential may impact on their networks' virus
protection. This follows calls from Euro MPs that businesses should
make greater use of email encryption to prevent snooping by the
Echelon system.

Sophos is warning users that although encryption helps to ensure
the privacy of an email, it also has ramifications for virus
scanning at the internet and gateway level. Because encrypted
emails can only be scanned securely at the desktop, any
organisation relying on internet or gateway protection is
compromising their security by sending and receiving encrypted
documents.

"It's obviously encouraging to see Euro MPs taking privacy
seriously, and Sophos is in favour of more companies using
encryption to secure their data," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "However, companies
should think very carefully about deploying encryption because of
the impact it may have on their virus protection. Desktop
anti-virus protection remains the very best way to protect your
computers, and will continue to protect people even in an encrypted
world. Anti-virus companies which offer only gateway and internet
scanning will find detecting viruses inside encrypted email as easy
as nailing jelly to the ceiling."

The Echelon operation is an information surveillance system
initially used during the Cold War to gather military intelligence.
However, some Euro MPs are claiming that the system is now being
used to spy on European companies and home users, an activity which
they claim is in contravention of the Human Rights Convention. In
response, they are advising users to encrypt their emails in order
to avoid their private correspondence being scrutinised.

About Sophos

More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos’ complete security solutions as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Simple to deploy, manage, and use, Sophos’ award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, mobile and network security solutions are backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K., and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “SOPH.” More information is available at www.sophos.com/company.